After going 0-for-5 against the Capitals on Thursday, the Maple Leafs have split up their number-one power play unit.
The Toronto Maple Leafs' power play needs some life.
It's been a struggle all year for Toronto to find the back of the net on the man advantage, and as we descend deeper into the season, it feels like it's only getting more difficult for them.
They haven't scored on the power play since Dec. 16 against the Chicago Blackhawks. It was Auston Matthews who buried a shot in front after William Nylander got the captain the puck from behind Chicago's net.
After Matthews potted it home to tie the game, he gestured to the crowd to get up and cheer because, before the goal, fans had been voicing their displeasure with the game they were watching unfold in front of them.
After that, it appeared the Maple Leafs might've picked up some swagger on the power play, following what had been a difficult first few months.
Since that game, though, Toronto has gone 0-for-10 on the man advantage, against the Washington Capitals, Nashville Predators, and their latest opponent, the Dallas Stars, to whom they lost 5-1.
Following their loss to the Capitals, where the power play went 0-for-5, Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube made adjustments to the units.
No more number-one power play. Instead, they balanced things out.
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Craig Berube is betting that splitting his superstar core across two balanced power-play units will finally jumpstart the Maple Leafs' stagnant offense.
On Sunday, Toronto had Matthews, Max Domi, Nick Robertson, Easton Cowan and Morgan Rielly on unit one; Nylander, John Tavares, Matias Maccelli, Nicolas Roy, and Oliver Ekman-Larsson on unit two.
"It was good to get another view of things," Nylander said following their loss to the Stars.
Despite putting up another goose egg on the man-advantage, going 0-for-4 against the Stars, there were positives. Toronto moved the puck well, at times, but Jake Oettinger was sharp when he needed to be. The Stars' goaltender stopped seven shots through Toronto's four opportunities.
The Maple Leafs are now 0-for-5 on the man advantage since they switched things up in Washington, D.C., on Friday.
"Yeah, I mean, there's a couple good looks. I think you'd like it to kind of flow a little bit better, but when you're kind of making adjustments on the fly, it can be tough sometimes," Matthews added after the loss to Dallas.
"But the few looks that we did get, goalie made a good save. There's pucks that are lying there that we just can't capitalize on. So that's obviously a big part of the game and a part of the game that you, you know, in games like this that are tight that, like I said the other night, that you want to capitalize on when you get those opportunities."
It's difficult to judge where the Maple Leafs go from here. Are these new-look units generating more because they've been jumbled? Will they be able to consistently generate scoring chances against their opponents?
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That's the hope for Berube and the rest of Toronto's coaching staff.
However, if losses continue to pile up, it doesn't feel like the Maple Leafs' league-worst power play — now operating at 13.3 percent — will gain the confidence needed to contribute during key moments in a game going forward.